Atlas On The Biology Of Soil Arthropods

From the Foreword: "Anyone who has glimpsed a sample of soil animals, especially the soil arthropods, through the binocular microscope will never forget the fascination of their abundant shapes and structures ... electron microscopy has added another dimension which multiplies the initial fascination. When I leaf through this "atlas" my attention is repeatedly caught by the numerous pictures. ... the richness of form and function of the soil arthropods has proved to be an inexhaustible source of biological interest. The authors ... demonstrate this in a praiseworthy manner. ...This atlas offers every teacher the opportunity of rapidly obtaining an overview and thus compiling the most vivid teaching material. ... Finally, the index offers easy access to each individual aspect of the subject to those who are motivated to study further."

Springtails are the most numerous and wide-spread insects in terrestrial ecosystems. They are important ecotoxicological test organisms and have been used extensively to indicate the effects of environmental pollutants and different agricultural regimes on biodiversity in soils. This comprehensive work by the co-author of The biology of millipedes is the only single-volume review of the biology of springtails in the English language to appear this century. The book covers classification, behaviour, physiology, evolution, ecology, and ecotoxicology. An extensive reference section with more than 2500 entries is included together with a complete list of all Collembola genera, a list of studies on the effects of chemicals on springtails, and reference to species checklists for most countries of the world.

A completely updated and translated edition of the author's famous book Atlas zur Biologie der Wasserinsekten. br/> This comprehensive work gives a vivid overview of the numerous adaptations of aquatic insects to life in an aquatic environment. 148 picture plates show more than 900 scanning electron microscope photographs with magnifications from 2.5 to 12,000 times natural size. Besides the habitus, they depict the wealth of morphological structures on the body surfaces. Explanatory texts as well as more than 150 additional line drawings, graphs and diagrams accompany each picture plate on its opposite page. In order to create an overview, on which the readers can orient themselves, a broad spectrum of all insect orders that include aquatic and semiaquatic insects has been chosen: Collembola, Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, Heteroptera (Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha), Megaloptera, Planipennia, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera (Tipulidae, Limoniidae, Blephariceridae, Deuterophlebiidae, Psychodidae, Ptychopteridae, Dixidae, Chaoboridae, Culicidae, Simuliidae, Chironomidae, Ceratopogonidae, Stratiomyidae, Athericidae, Tabanidae, Syrphidae, Ephydridae, Muscidae). The book includes aquatic insects from all continents and from a wide variety of aquatic habitats. The Biological Atlas of Aquatic Insects was inspired by the fascinating variety of aquatic insects and their diverse adaptations to a life in the aquatic environment. Underlying the diversity of life histories and differing life forms (burrowers, climbers, sprawlers, clingers, and swimmers) and the adaptations of mouthparts and feeding behaviour to the trophic systems (shredders, collectors, scrapers, piercers, predators, and parasites) are the necessary physiological mechanisms that make it possible for the insects to ecologically adapt to an aquatic mode of life. The central themes of the book, the basic functions of an aquatic mode of life, respiration and osmoregulation, have been described for all of the insect groups. Without these basic functions life in fresh water would not be possible. They are important physiological components and play a significant role in answering the question: What makes originally land dwelling insects turn into aquatic insects? The Biological Atlas of Aquatic Insects is intended for both professional and amateur entomologists working with aquatic insects as well as for students of biology and limnology and should reveal to them the fully adapted aquatic insects, which participate in freshwater ecosystems. The Biological Atlas of Aquatic Insects has already had some fine reviews in entomological journals.

Arthropods are invertebrates that constitute over 90% of the animal kingdom, and their bio-ecology is closely linked with global functioning and survival. Arthropods play an important role in maintaining the health of ecosystems, provide livelihoods and nutrition to human communities, and are important indicators of environmental change. Yet the population trends of several arthropods species show them to be in decline. Arthropods constitute a dominant group with 1.2 million species influencing earth’s biodiversity. Among arthropods, insects are predominant, with ca. 1 million species and having evolved some 350 million years ago. Arthropods are closely associated with living and non-living entities alike, making the ecosystem services they provide crucially important. In order to be effective, plans for the conservation of arthropods and ecosystems should include a mixture of strategies like protecting key habitats and genomic studies to formulate relevant policies for in situ and ex situ conservation. This two-volume book focuses on capturing the essentials of arthropod inventories, biology, and conservation. Further, it seeks to identify the mechanisms by which arthropod populations can be sustained in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and by means of which certain problematic species be managed without producing harmful environmental side-effects. This edited compilation includes chapters contributed by over 80 biologists on a wide range of topics embracing the diversity, distribution, utility and conservation of arthropods and select groups of insect taxa. More importantly, it describes in detail the mechanisms of sustaining arthropod ecosystems, services and populations. It addresses the contribution of modern biological tools such as molecular and genetic techniques regulating gene expression, as well as conventional, indigenous practices in arthropod conservation. The contributors reiterate the importance of documenting and understanding the biology of arthropods from a holistic perspective before addressing conservation issues at large. This book offers a valuable resource for all zoologists, entomologists, ecologists, conservation biologists, policy makers, teachers and students interested in the conservation of biological resources.

Soil Biology is a state-of-the art review focusing on the linkage between biological processes that occur in the soil and their impact on soil quality. Topics considered include the microbial ecology of conservation management systems, dynamic processes of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae, earthworms and soil fauna, microbial processes in the soil, and the degradation of pesticides through microbial processes. The book will interest soil scientists, microbiologists, agronomists, and soil ecologists.